Martin Scorsese is a longtime fan of indie filmmaker Ti West.
Scorsese penned a letter to the New York Times to applaud West’s “X” trilogy which recently concluded with “MaXXXine.” Mia Goth starred in all three films as both characters Maxine and Pearl, with each feature taking place in a different decade. West deployed the popular aesthetics for each respective era for the trio of films, as Scorsese explains.
According to the Oscar-winning filmmaker, West’s “X” films all embody a “different type of horror, related to different eras in American moviemaking.”
The first feature “X” is “the ’70s, the slasher era,” as Scorsese wrote. Meanwhile, prequel “Pearl” showcases the “’50s melodrama in vivid saturated color,” while “MaXXXine” captured the “’80s Hollywood, rancid, desperate” onscreen.
The films are “three linked stories set within three different moments in movie culture, reflecting back on the greater culture,” as Scorsese penned.
The New York Times editorialized: “By smuggling thoroughly modern ideas into films that were also steeped in the aesthetics of the past, Scorsese thought, West had done something bold and thoroughly cinematic.”
West previously explained to Total Film that he had Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” collaborator Paul Schrader in mind for the aesthetics of “MaXXXine.” He added that “MaXXXine” ranges from “a ‘Terminator’-like aesthetic to a Paul Schrader hardcore thing to ‘Vice Squad’ to giallo,” all mixed together.
West, who made his feature directorial debut with 2005’s “The Roost,” told IndieWire that he opted instead to focus on TV before beginning his “X” trilogy.
“I didn’t want to make horror movies for a while because I’d made so many in a row,” he said. “I was trying to think of what it would take to get me to want to do it again, because making a movie was sort of like two years of trauma.”
He added of the fast-paced indie trilogy, “You find yourself just trying to survive the day sometimes, and that was something we were always very conscious of. We would joke in the office, we don’t want to leave cinema on the table. […] I’m very proud of the movies. I feel like I stuck the landing, and I’m aware of how unlikely that is. I’m just trying to get to the end and then maybe take a weekend or a week off, and then figure out what’s next.”
